Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski has reported on ongoing talks mediated by India and Turkey regarding freedom of navigation in the Black Sea while discussing potential negotiation formats between Ukraine and Russia during the annual Yalta European Strategy (YES 2026) meeting held by Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv on September 11–12.
"There are also negotiations run by the Indians over the freedom of shipping in the Black Sea and by the Turks," Sikorski said in the context that the question of negotiation platforms and intermediaries is not the main issue for ending the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine.
"I'm of the view that if Putin is ready for a reasonable peace. He's just not ready yet," the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland noted.
According to him, negotiations and consultations between representatives of Ukraine and Russia are taking place constantly.
"Ukraine and Russia are negotiating the whole time a very difficult issue of swaps of prisoners of war and the bodies of fallen soldiers. So if, There were willingness on Russia's part to come to a solution. They could just broaden those talks, And actually they started very early on in the war with other baskets," Sikorski noted.
As Minister for Recovery, Infrastructure, and Transport Mykola Kalashnyk reported on September 13, as a result of systematic Russian strikes on port infrastructure and vessels, cargo handling in the Black Sea ports of Greater Odesa has dropped more than 15-fold since July 22.
In turn, Ukraine is also striking the Russian "shadow" fleet. Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Robert (Madyar) Brovdi recently reported that as part of the ten-week MoLoCHka operation, 285 vessels of the Russian "shadow" fleet have been neutralized in the Azov and Black Seas, including 16 units from September 1 to 11, 54 in August, and 215 vessels in July.
